Drawing the Line
by KDlalala
Summary: A man can't serve two orders.


**AN:** This is just a little one shot scene that's been playing in my head for a bit. Bethany, Varric, and Alessa talk about this a little bit in Ch 9 of _Maelstrom_ and I had the urge to expand on it and explore Mior's character a little more. Some of the events and the character of Rolan come from Jennifer Heplar's short story about Anders.

* * *

Mior Andras stood at the window of her quarters in Vigil's Keep, gazing out over the city of Amaranthine. Her city.

She reflected silently that she was probably the first elf to ever gaze out over the city from this position, at least legitimately. Becoming the Arlessa of any city, much less this one, had never been what she expected the day she'd left Orlais for Ferelden. She'd simply wanted to find her cousin and help her with the Blight. After Malaina had sacrificed herself to take down the Archdemon, it had seemed an insult to her memory to simply turn back and return to Orlais. Which had put her in the rather strange position of being the most experienced and well connected Grey Warden in Ferelden….and the Commander of the Grey.

She tapped the letter from Weisshaupt against her palm as she watched a procession of armored men make their way toward the Keep. She'd been expecting them ever since they'd found the bodies of Rolan and his cronies. The bodies had all been Templars and former Templars. And Anders was nowhere to be found.

Someone tapped on the door and came in without waiting for an answer. She turned her head just enough to indicate she knew he was there without turning around. "Any luck?"

"No." Nathaniel Howe came up beside her and stood, following her gaze, his eyes narrowing slightly. "I managed to find out he's taken a ship somewhere, but he could be going to anyplace that ship stops along the way. I'm sorry."

"Don't be," she said softly. "I don't think Anders even knows where he's going…except away from here. I guess we'll never know exactly what happened."

"The Templars will want reprisals for this."

They certainly would. The Grey Wardens hadn't had a presence in Ferelden for a long time; the people had no idea how to deal with them. Most other places, even Orlais, when you took a mage into the Wardens, they became the responsibility of the commander. The Templars in Ferelden weren't satisfied by this. If they still had direct control over the Circle in Ferelden, they might have been less insistent, but that had been the one and only request Malaina had asked of Alastair, and he had granted it. Personally, Mior didn't know what they were bitching about. They still had a hand in decisions regarding apostates and blood mages; they just couldn't bully any mage they wanted to whenever it struck their fancy. But increasingly strident letters as she took mages into her ranks started becoming more and more common. Accepting people like Rolan in, even knowing he was focused on keeping an eye on Anders, seemed like a simple choice at the time.

Mior silently handed Nathaniel the letter. He was her second-in-command, he would have needed to see it anyway. "I thought I was being diplomatic," she said quietly as he read. "An Orlesian elf, and a Grey Warden…I thought things were shaky enough it wouldn't hurt to stay on good terms with the Templars."

"You saved Amaranthine…you saved Ferelden itself. No one here doubts you anymore, Mior." Nathaniel handed the letter back to her, his face grim. "So the First has spoken."

"He knows what's at stake. I let this happen. I was so focused on Amgarrak and finding Alistair's witch that I was lax." Her eyes, the deep green shade of emeralds, narrowed into slits. Nathaniel knew that look…and that tone of voice…all too well. He almost pitied the Templars.

"Change is coming…" Nathaniel said quietly. He was one of the few who were privy to everything she had done and seen hunting down the Witch of the Wilds, Morrigan. The woman her cousin, Ferelden's greatest hero, had called her dark sister.

She nodded.

Another knock came on the door and a servant stepped in at her invitation. "Milady, a group of Templars just arrived. Their leader demands to speak to you." There was a stiffness in her tone and a hard light in her eyes that indicated she didn't approve of that kind of attitude toward her mistress.

"Send them to the throne room and offer them refreshment, I'll be down shortly," Mior said. The servant nodded and bowed, leaving the room

Mior turned her head to find Nathaniel regarding her silently. She met his gaze for a long moment. "Gather the rest of the Wardens together. I'll start with them."

Nathaniel smiled grimly. "Yes, Commander."

* * *

"Commander, the Knight-Lieutenant came a long way, we shouldn't keep him waiting," Colin said, looking anxious. Mior regarded him silently. He was one, alongside Rolan and several others, who had left the Templar order to join the Grey Wardens. So she'd thought. "We have a lot to explain."

"Says who?" Oghren snorted, taking a drink from the tankard in his hand. "If you ask me, we've been doing too much explaining to the damned Templars as it is. Glad you're back and putting an end to that nonsense, Mior." He tipped the tankard toward her in a salute.

"The abomination killed members of the order!" Colin said.

"Then they shouldn't have been there in the first place," Mior said coldly. She rose to her feet and every Grey Warden present turned to study her. Some of them looked nervous, most of them sensed something big was happening and looked expectant. She kept her eyes on Colin. "It's my fault more than anyone's this escalated to the rate it did. I admit that. I was gone too long. If the First teaches us anything it's that letting yourself get involved in the politics of the land means you lose sight of what goes on in the wardens. That ends now."

"What do you mean?" Colin said, his voice rising a bit. It wasn't quite a challenge, but it was insolent enough Nathaniel shifted forward, his eyes flashing dangerously. She laid a hand on his shoulder, taking note of the two other Templars-turned-Warden in the room. They sat slightly apart from the others in a small group, letting Colin do the talking.

"I mean you bound yourself willingly to the Order of the Grey the moment you chose to partake in the Joining, Colin. Unfortunately, neither you nor Rolan took it seriously."

"Commander…"

"You serve one order, Colin. This one."

Colin stared at her for one humming moment. She saw it there in his eyes; the arrogance that had taken hold during her absence. That surety the might of the Templar Order would stand. And she understood Colin had always truly served the Templars, even after the Joining.

Colin pushed away from the table. "I'll tell the Knight-Lieutenant you're on your way."

Oghren growled and Mior shook her head at him. "You do that." She gave him a chilling smile that made him hesitate for one moment before he swept out of the room, the other two following him.

Mior waited until he was out of earshot and closed the door, turning her eyes to the rest of them. She let the silence hang for a few moments, and then held up the First's letter, reading the short, simple missive aloud to them. Then she told them exactly what they were going to do.

* * *

The Templars stood in the center of the room, Colin and his two companions standing between them and the door. The Knight-Lieutenant stepped forward, not bothering to hide his anger. "We've come to demand an explanation for the abomination known as Anders killing members of…"

"_My _order, Knight-Lieutenant." Mior's voice rang through the room.

"Commander." Colin took a step forward, holding his hands up to placate her.

Starfang rang from its sheath and sang through the air as she swept it out, decapitating him in one smooth movement. His head, mouth fixed in an 'o' of surprised, hit the ground with a dull thud and rolled toward the Knight-Lieutenant's feet.

For a long moment, there was silence. The Templars seemed too stunned to react. Nathaniel raised his bow and took out one of Colin's friends. The other ran toward the Templars, but didn't make it two steps before Oghren took him down, grinning savagely.

The Knight-Lieutenant shouted and the Templars went for their weapons, only to find themselves surrounded by hard faced, grim eyed Grey Wardens, including several mages who were staying well out of range of a pulse of lyrium. The Templars were outnumbered; the Knight-Lieutenant could see that clearly. They might take down a few of the Wardens, but they would not make it out, especially since they had to get past the woman who had taken down both the Mother and then turned around and slaughtered the Architect.

Mior stood, Starfang back in its sheath, waiting patiently until the Knight-Lieutenant ordered his men to put their swords away. He stared at her, his face drawn tight with anger. When he started to speak, Mior overrode him: "There aren't many outside the Wardens who get to see what happens to traitors within our ranks."

She let those words hang in the air, echoing through the chamber. She moved forward until she was mere feet away from the Knight-Lieutenant. "I took Colin and Rolan on in good faith and they abused that," she said very quietly.

"You can't punish a man for standing for his beliefs!"

"Beliefs? No. What anyone under my command _believes_ is a matter of complete indifference to me, Lieutenant. Who they _obey_ is another matter entirely. So let me tell you this: I will accept any _former_ templar into this order from this moment on. They can't serve two orders. Once the Taint is flowing through them, they are mine. Not yours. If anyone in my order, mage or templar, crosses a line into the unacceptable, then it is my duty to deal with it. Not yours."

The Knight-Lieutenant glared at her. "Do you think you can threaten the Order without repercussions, Warden?"

"I am not threatening you, Lieutenant. You and your men will walk out of his Keep and this city alive and well, carrying that message from both me and the First Warden." She made a slight gesture with her hand and the Wardens of Vigil's Keep parted without hesitation, weapons still trained, creating a path for them to pass through to the door.

For a long moment, the two commanders locked eyes, and it seemed like the Knight-Lieutenant would order his men to attack anyway. If he did, they would all die and Mior would accept the storm that would follow. She was relatively certain the First would not actually take a hand to the situation unless he absolutely had to, but after seeing the Grey Wardens in action, the threat of angering the Order of the Grey was not one the people of Ferelden would take likely and the king certainly would not. The Knight-Lieutenant saw all of it in her eyes. She literally saw the moment he weighed the might of the Templar order against what it would go against if he pushed on this. She highly doubted he found the odds to his liking.

Slowly, reluctantly, he gestured to his men, leading them toward the door. Mior nodded to Nathaniel and Oghren, sending them both to make sure they caused no trouble while they were leaving the city. "There has to be a line, Lieutenant," she said, her voice just loud enough for them to hear. "Even for you."

The glare he shot over his shoulder told her clearly that they were on direct opposite signs of whatever line that was now, but it didn't hide the clear hint of fear in his eyes. The ground beneath his feet had been shaken, yet another small change in the way of things that was setting the Templars so on edge. Something that had been unsettled in her quieted, and it seemed the ground beneath her feet solidified.

But she had a sudden clear thought- almost a premonition -that the ground beneath his feet was only going to get shakier and shakier.


End file.
